Beautiful Painting
by Crazy Lady Wolf
Summary: Becoming a fledgling is hard, it's harder when you're the first not undead fledgling to go red, even harder when you're gifted with an ability that's so rare no one really knows how to help you with it and harder still when your high priestess loses her mind. Hopefully Shaylin has what it takes to help her friends and herself during the trying times to come. Post Revealed.
1. Chapter 1

**I will definitely have spoilers for Revealed in here so if you haven't read it and don't want it spoiled, don't read. **

Becoming a fledgling is hard, it's harder when you're the first not undead fledgling to go red, even harder when you're gifted with an ability that's so rare no one really knows how to help you with it and harder still when your high priestess loses her mind. Hopefully Shaylin has what it takes to help her friends and herself during the trying times to come.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the House of Night series (obviously) and all recognizable characters from the books aren't mine.

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I woke up with a start, disoriented and lost. I couldn't remember where I was for a moment and tensed when I realized there were arms wrapped around my waist and legs were entangled with mine.

"Shaylin, what's wrong?"

That's when I remembered why I slept so comfortably and quickly even after what happened with Zoey, Nicole was sharing my bed. Her sleepy voice was groggy but undeniably cute and I felt myself blush when she kissed the top of my head. My lips tingled with the memory of Nicole's and my cheeks heated up even more.

"Nothing," I replied, relaxing little by little into her embrace. It was weird, but I didn't question my feelings; after all, there was nothing wrong with finding comfort in anyone's arms. And Nicole's arms were _really_ comforting.

"You sure?" she asked softly, loosening her hold on me. I heard hesitation and worry laced thickly in her words. "I mean… it's not… you're okay?" She pulled her arms away and tucked them closer against herself.

I nodded, rolling onto my side on my small mattress, looking at her face, studying her features. She was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth and looked on the verge of tears. A quick glance at her dimmer aura told me she was anxious and I could only guess why.

"I'm okay, I promise." Her gaze met mine and after a long moment she nodded and closed her eyes; her hands were shaking. "It felt nice."

"Really?" There was a tremble in her voice and I saw a tear run down her cheek. She needed reassurance and even though I wasn't sure what would happen between us, if anything at all, I knew there was something there before we fell asleep.

"Really."

"Okay."

We stayed that way a little longer, our legs tangled in my covers and surrounded by warmth. It felt nice, comforting and normal even with the slight awkwardness hanging in the air between us. Nicole didn't pull me back into her arms and she didn't open her eyes but she didn't pull further away; although that could only be because she would've fallen off.

Either way, it ended all too soon and in a horrible way.

Aphrodite rushed in, not saying a word as she burst into the basement and yanked my arm. I opened my mouth to yell at her but before the proper words formed in my mind, I noticed her aura and looked at her face. Beside me, I felt Nicole tense and knew she realized just how horrible something must be for Aphrodite to not snark about us in bed.

"It's Zoey," was all she said before tugging at my arm again. This time, I quickly got out of bed, forgetting about everything else and followed her. If not for Nicole, I would have fried outside in the afternoon sun but she wrapped me in the blanket we had shared and walked with me into the open daylight.

The first thing I noticed was Stark's aura. My Sight zeroed in on the dangerous swirling of his colors and I knew something had happened and it involved Zoey. After that everything whirpooled. Damien and Shaunee stood huddled together, clearly shaken and confused while Kalona shadowed them. Thanatos was talking to a human officer whose colors' movements reflected compassion and sincerity as well as sadness. His colors resembled everyone else's who was upset but his face betrayed little to nothing as he nodded at whatever Death's high priestess said.

"What happened?" Nicole finally asked, looking to Aphrodite for answers. I dreaded whatever reply was going to come, I knew it'd be bad, _really_ bad.

For a moment the normal and bitchy girl I'd gotten somewhat used to reappeared as she sneered at Nicole. It wasn't as bad as usual but it was still enough to get Nicole scowling.

"What the fuck do you think happened? While you and _it_ were snuggling and doing goddess knows what, Zoey flipped her shit." She turned her glare on me, her colors calming shaking and dimming as she spoke. "My vision came true. She killed two humans and now she turned herself in." Her glare completely vanished and that's when I realized her eyes were shining with tears and her lip was trembling.

"My beauty," Darius breathed, rushing up to her side. He lifted her into his embrace and quickly carried her away but not quick enough to keep her soft sobs from reaching my ears.

"Oh shit," was all I managed to say before my knees gave out and my vision went dark.

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**A/N**: Okay, so this was my first shot at a HoN fanfiction. Hopefully it wasn't too bad. I'm hoping to update this somewhat often because I'm not going to make the chapters as long as I usually do. Shaylin/Nicole is adorable and I definitely ship it. Anyway, follows, favorites and reviews are appreciated (:


	2. Chapter 2

**I will definitely have spoilers for Revealed in here so if you haven't read it and don't want it spoiled, don't read. **

Becoming a fledgling is hard, it's harder when you're the first not undead fledgling to go red, even harder when you're gifted with an ability that's so rare no one really knows how to help you with it and harder still when your high priestess loses her mind. Hopefully Shaylin has what it takes to help her friends and herself during the trying times to come.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the House of Night series (obviously) and all recognizable characters from the books aren't mine.

* * *

When I began to wake up, I was snuggled up in someone's arms and knew it was Nicole holding me by the way she was humming softly. I felt incredibly comfortable, wrapped up in her soothing warmth with the feel of her heartbeat thumping against me and I didn't want to wake up. I wanted to stay cuddled up against her for the rest of forever instead of waking up and dealing with whatever shit storm was on the way. But I knew I couldn't be that selfish, the goddess gave me a gift so I could help my friends.

"What time is it?" I yawned, turning in her embrace so I could bury my face in the crook of her neck. She shuddered and I heard her suck in a sharp breath before she cleared her throat and tried to pull away. I didn't let her.

"It's almost 9. You've been out for a bit."

"Really?" I mumbled against her skin, closing my eyes again. Again I felt her tremble but this time, she just tightened her arms around me and kissed the top of my head.

"Yup." Her heart sped up a little as she ran her hand up and down my back, humming again. "You know, when you sleep, your mouth hangs open a little."

"Oh my gosh." I blushed furiously, shaking my head. I hoped beyond hope that I didn't drool on her.

"It's cute, really," she chuckled softly.

"That's so embarrassing!" Pulling away from her embrace enough to pout at her, I noticed the increasing brightness of her colors. They were beautiful and warm.

"Nope, not at all," she whispered. She lifted her hand and ran her fingertips down my face. The caress was so gentle it felt like the wings of a butterfly against my skin and sent tingles across my body.

"Oh," was all I could manage to get passed my lips. Again I flashed back to the brief kiss we shared; my first kiss in my new life.

"Yeah."

I leaned forward slowly, shifting so that I could get a better angle at her mouth. The loud clunk of my cell phone crashing to the floor pierced through the haze that surrounded us. Nicole blinked as if clearing out her vision and her face fell as something crossed her mind. I reached for her face, wanting to wipe away the sudden tension in her features but her next words stopped me cold.

"Erik was asking for you."

My body went rigid as I looked at her, unsure what I heard in her tone. Was it sadness or jealousy; her colors hinted it was a mix of both. _Damn it I'm so new to this stuff_. "What did you tell him?"

"That you were sleeping." Suddenly her warmth was gone and so was she, leaving me alone in my bed with a chill clinging to me.

I sat up and blinked, taking in the dark and empty room with a small huff. I didn't want to deal with any drama that didn't mean life or death, so I'd push away whatever it was that was going on with my possible love life and focus on Zoey. That was something a the goddess would approve of, _right_?

Heaving the sigh of the century, I stood up, shook myself off and put on my shoes. I'd have to take it one step at a time, focusing on the problem that affected more people; that was the _selfless _thing to do.

"Why the fuck do _I_ have to be the one to always get your ass up?" Aphrodite's voice bounced off the walls of the empty basement. Even though her bitchy tone was seriously annoying, I was glad to have her back to normal, well, as normal as she could ever be. "Seriously, I'm _way_ too good looking to be playing fetch the freak."

"_I'm_ the freak?"

She shrugged, flipping her hair over her shoulder before squinting and looking around. "Where's your pillow pet?"

My face flushed as I glared at her, stomping passed her on my way up the stairs.

"Trouble in paradise?" she laughed.

"Are you coming or not?"

"Touchy, touchy," she grinned. "Maybe you should stop by Taco Bell and pick up some food for her."

"Huh? What are you… you know what? Nevermind, I don't want to know what goes on in that insane head of yours." Shaking my head, I trudged upstairs, trying my best to ignore the stream of babble coming from behind me.

As soon as the night air hit me, I took a deep breath and turned around to face her. She had stopped talking and simply looked up into the sky, her mouth curled into a frown. As soon as I opened my mouth to remind her of all the wrinkles she'd get from frowning, her body seized and she flopped onto the ground. I screamed like bloody murder and watched as her body shook and blood ran down her cheeks.

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**A/N**: I have no idea where this is going but I have free time right now at work so I decided why not whip up the next chapter! Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it (:


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